4.04.2018

2018 Chapter 14: April 4

Easter was wonderful. We spent the whole week doing Easter eggs hunts. Well, only one real one - the rest I kept just re-using the candy from the first one, and then Wade stuffed eggs with toys and did even more Easter egg hunts. I was informed today that we need to do one more and then Easters is over. Sadly only one was able to be outside, in full winter gear. Yesterday it snowed 7 inches and the rest of the week isn't look anymore hopeful - but next week...by next week the weather is supposed to be non-snowy! I know, because Wade makes us check the "winter" (weather) several times a day.

One of Wade's Easter egg hunts:

Let's talk about this girl. She had an ear ache this weekend, which lead to several sleepless nights and lots of begged for "cuwdles." It was on conference weekend, so it wasn't all bad, having to sit there giving this girl "cuwdles." Yesterday and today she's been a bottomless pit, even more than usual. Luckily she's not picky - begging for cauliflower, broccoli, kefir. Today she ran out of ranch and was dipping her carrots in her water and Wade had to come find me to tell me, "she's using water like ketchup!" which is not how it works, so he obviously had to inform me. I think she still has a bit of an ear ache, at least that's what I'm telling myself during her 107 daily tantrums.

Oh...but she's potty trained!! Occasionally we have a poop accident right after nap time - which I don't count as real accidents, simply because I don't want to. One day she pooped while still half asleep and somehow some got on the toilet seat and she stuck her hand on it - when she realized she had poop on her hand she started gagging. Blake still is in diapers, but she learned how to hold her pee, so now she goes all at once in her diaper and it goes all over, her diaper can't handle it.

Wade's been making such good use of his quiet time this week - creating for hours! He's been into making "machines" this week - complete with Easter egg fuel to run. One afternoon he said "Mommy, I need you to come upstairs so I can show you my machine and tell you all about how they work." He showed me then told me that I can't play with it, cause "Daddy is going to play with me, for the whole week."

We're barely hanging in there with this never ending winter - actually, that's not true at all, we're just watching more TV than we should. And we're also watching more because we've started to have to take turns - Jac makes sure I don't forget the order. She'll get up in my face (to make sure I'm listening), cocks her head to the side and tells me, "Wade PJ Masks, Moana me!" Blake sometimes gets a turn, but really doesn't care what's on and is easily swayed by her siblings.

I emptied the last bottle of unwanted food storage this week! And started putting storage back into the room. This has been the biggest project I've ever undertaken and seeing it come to an end feels amazing.

I turned my front room into a portrait studio and did my first group of mini sessions and they turned out wonderful! I took a practice round with my kids - I bribed them with candy, so now Jac keeps going in there and posing with a smile, but instead of saying cheese, she says "candy!"

And this is when I decided I needed to bribe:

I grew that wheatgrass! It was in the loft and we went and checked on it every day - it was so rewarding cause it grows so fast! And now it's on our kitchen table and being played with daily. I've got a new portrait place, a new camera and a new lens so some of these turned out more grainy than I wanted, need to figure it all out. Learning process. Such a fun learning process. And, luckily, I have great models that have a pretty reasonable price.

General Conference was beyond wonderful. Sustaining a new prophet was so powerful and he felt like a different person as he spoke, he's definitely bearing a new mantel. A woman came to my house to buy some girl clothes and we ended up talking about religion for a good 45 minutes and I invited her to watch general conference! I don't know if she watched or not, I sent her the link, we chatted a few times on Facebook. But it felt so good to offer. To invite.

This weekend was a hard one. My uncle, my father's younger brother, passed away. What's stupid, is that I wasn't all that close with him. But I couldn't stop crying. I cried for my father's grief. I cried for my cousin's grief. I cried for my grandma, my aunts. And I cried for my uncle. For the pain and despair he felt. But I also cried because I felt the love that my Father in Heaven has for my uncle. So much love. I am thankful for my testimony, so that while I mourn with my family and for my family, I do not mourn as one without hope. I know that the atonement knows no bounds, definitely not death. That death is not the end. And I know that Heavenly Father gave His only begotten son to give hope for every day moments, but especially for days like these.